Preface : The Oadby Poacher by J A J Richardson

The Oadby Poacher by J A J Richardson 


Preface : 

Due to the legal status of Poaching several of the names in this book have been altered, abstracted from the text, or simply changed. Likewise the exact location of certain fauna and flora within Oadby shall not be mentioned here. The purpose of this book is NOT to promote armed trespass and/or the pursuit of game. Rather the aim of this book is to capture a time and a place ; and the life-style of a Poacher in Oadby during the end of the 20th Century. 

Oadby holds a long history of Poachers over its soil. There has been a local Poacher in Oadby since Victorian times, if not before. The most famous of which was James Hawker. The exploits of which are chronicled in his own journal; later edited by Garth Christian, illustrated by Lynton Lamb and published by Oxford University Press in 1961. Printed with the most elegant yet simple title : 'A Victorian Poacher : James Hawker's Journal'  

In continuum, this work aims to provide a glimpse into the habits of a Poacher in Oadby approximately one hundred years after 'A Victorian Poacher'. A chronicle into the ways that Poaching and ultimately the methods of Farming and the Countryside that supports Poaching has changed. Or in many cases remained the same. 

The following is therefore as much a reflection into the past, as it is a means of questioning how we shall manage the local Countryside in  future. The Oadby Poacher is as much a euphemism, as it is reference to any specific person. All said, The Oadby Poacher was once, a very real character - and a far from a fictitious Countryman!


J A J Richardson [2010] 




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